Package for medicament tablets and the like



Nov. 8, 1966 H. GRUNEWALD ETAL 3,283,885

PACKAGE FOR MEDICAMENT TABLETS AND THE LIKE Filed July 50, 1964 1 l ,42 my Wed IUE- .EE

M mmmw United States Patent M 3,283,885 PACKAGE FOR MEDICAMENT TABLETS AND THE LIKE Heinz Grunewald and Karlheinz Lindner, Berlin, Germany, assignors to Schering A.G., Berlin, Germany Filed July 30, 1964, Ser. No. 386,300 Claims priority, application Germany, July 31, 196,3, Sch 34,197 3 Claims. (Cl. 206-42) The present invention relates to packages for containing medicament tablets or the like, and to methods of packaging such tablets.

The control or therapy of a number of physiological conditions or processes by means of medicaments requires regular periodic use lof the medicaments without interruption. An example of such is the control of ovulation by the ingestion of certain hormone preparations for suppressing ovulation. .For effective control of ovulation, tablets or capsules containing such a hormone preparation must be taken daily, without interruption, throughout certain periods ofthe menstrual cycle.

Similarly, courses of therapy for other conditions may require a regular use of medicaments in the form of tablets, capsules, suppositories, or the like, or may require the use of a number of different therapeutic aids in a prescribed regular sequence.

According to the present invention, a convenient packaging unit has been found for facilitating regular, orderly, and sequential use of medicaments and the like.

A better understanding of the present invention and of its many advantages will be had by referring to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. l is a plan view of Ia package according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective View of a of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front sectional View taken along line 3-3 of FIG. l; and

FIG. 4 is an end sectional view taken long line 4 4 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a package according to the present invention and, in particular, shows cover means 11 for said package, said cover means having thereon some indicia of sequence. yBy indicia of sequence as used in the present specification 'and claims are meant a plurality of markings, graphic or otherwise, indicating an ordered sequence. The indicia may be purely visual, such as printed matter, for example, or may be tactile, such as embossings on the cover, for example. In FIG. 1, the indicia of sequence include arrows 12 and designations 13 indicating days of the week. These indicia are printed or otherwise reproduced on cover 11, which is suitably made of a frangible destructible foil of cellophane, a plastic such as polyethylene, or of metal, and is removable by punctung and/or tearing. Arrows 12 and/ or daily designations 13, it is to be understood, can be replaced by a wide variety of other suit-able indicia of sequence. For example, an ordered sequence of numbers, letters, figures, or designs can be employed.

The indici-a of sequence, in particular the daily designations 13 of FIG. 1, are positionally correlated on cover 11 with individual container means for tablets, capsules, or the like within the package beneath removable cover 11.

FIG, 2 of the drawings shows tray means 21 suitably made of a tough material such as metal or plastic, and preferably made of a tough moldable transparent material such as a thin lm of polyvinyl chloride. Tray means 21 include individual containing means 22 from which cover 11 has not been removed and individual containing means23 from which covering portions have been stripped portion of the package 3,283,885 Patented Nov. 8, 1966 to give access to the tablet, capsule, or other object contained therein. Removal of cover 11, suitably of a metal foil or the like, is effected by puncturing the foil and( or tearing the foil in the vicinity of individual containing means such as means 22 to give access to the individual container, as shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a packaging unit taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1 showing cover 11 slit as shown at 32 to divide the cover -into a plurality of separately aixed quadrilateral strips 33 extending across tray means 21 to isolate -adjacent pairs of individual containing means 22 one from another. The scoring or subdivision of cover foil 11 in this manner discourages accidental tearing of the foil into areas not intended for destruction. When removing the foil cover from over individual containing means such as means 22 of FIG. 2, the tear made in foil cover 11 will not tend to extend into next adjacent cover portions beyond slit 3 2.

Although the drawings show such slitting or subdivision of cover 11 only across the width of the package shown in FIG. 1 for pairwise separation of individual containing means, it will be understood that cover 11 :can also be divided longitudinally by a slit to form a plurality of cover segments each covering only a single individual packaging means 22.

Still other features of the package may be relied upon to discourage .accidental tearing of cover 11 in undesired directions.

FIG. 4, for example, which is an end View along line 4-4 of FIG. 1, shows longitudinal embossed rib 41 in tray portion 21 separating individual containing means 44 and 45. Although cover 11 is adhesively aixed to tray portion 21 in the areas immediately surrounding capsule wells 44 and 45, discontinuity 42 in the ycontact between cover 11 and tray means 21 occurs -in the vicinity of rib 41. The presence of this discontinuity discourages extension of tears made in foil cover `11 over, say, capsule well 44, from extending into the area of the foil covering capsule well 45, and vice versa. Longitudinal rib 41, further, serves to strengthen tray 21 against excessive longitudinal flexure.

Rib 41 divides tray 21 into parallel rows of pairwise aligned individual -containing means (e.g. 44 and 45). However, where the number of containing means is odd, pairing will not be complete. This complete pairing and/or substantially complete positional pairing is deiined in the present specification and claims as substantially pairwise alignment.

It will be apparent from the drawings and discussion above that the package of the present invention, by correlating indicia of sequence with individual separate container means for medicament capsules or the like will facilitate regular, orderly, and sequential consumption of medicaments or other packaged objects by a user. With the preferred embodiment of FIG. 1, for instance, having cover 11 imprinted with the days of the week, a user knows immediately whether a daily medicament dosage required to be taken has been consumed, or whether one or more daily dosages have been omitted. The package further gives a direct indication of the number of days the medicament has already been consumed and of the supply of medicament remaining.

The medicaments contained in sequentially opened individual containing means according to the present invention need not all be the same, but may be different. Thus, the packages of the present invention offer a particularly convenient method of packaging a number of different medicaments to be t-aken in prescribed order, for inst-ance for the simultaneous treatment of different symptoms of the same or different diseases.

For the indicia of sequence employed, there is no limitation to indicia dening a daily sequence. The indicia -may be correlated with any time division suitable to the periodic use of the medicaments or other objects involved, or in appropriate cases may tbe dev-oid of any time connotation, such as a pure symbol of sequence like arrows 12 of FIG. 1.

Although specific embodiments have -heen shown and described herein, it will be understood that they are illustrative, and are not limiting on the scope an-d spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A palckaging unit for medicaments or the like comprising a sheet of a thin, tough, moldable material formed with parallel rows .of depressions therein, said depressions Ibeing substantially pairwise aligned across said rows, to define a tray portion having a plurality of individual containing means depressed below substantially planar peripheral and central areas thereof, and a plurality of pressure-rupturable cover segments atxed to said peripheral and central areas of said tray portion to cover said depressions, said cover segments having thereon indicia of the seven days of lthe week in multiples of said seven days, said indicia being sequentially correlated with said individual containing means and in cyclical head-to tail relationship within said parallel rows of depressions and across said rows at the ends thereof.

2. A packaging unit as in claim 1 wherein said rupturable cover is of metal foil.

3. A packaging unit as in claim 1 wherein said tray portion comprises a central longitudinal strengthening rib.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 860,357 7 1907 Diament 206-78 2,834,456 5/1958 Langer 420G-42, 2,968,391 1/1961 Sparks 206-42 3,099,352 7/ 1963 Aven 206-42 3,182,791 5/1065 Jenner 206-56 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,001,226 10/ 1951 France.

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examinez'.

W. T. DIXSON, Assistant Examine/' 

1. A PACKAGING UNIT FOR MEDICAMENTS OR THE LIKE COMPRISING A SHEET OF A THIN, TOUGH, MOLDABLE MATERIAL FORMED WITH PARALLEL ROWS OF DEPRESSIONS THEREIN, SAID DEPRESSIONS BEING SUBSTANTIALLY PAIRWISE ALIGNED ACROSS SAID ROWS, TO DEFINE A TRAY PORTION HAVING A PLURALITY OF INDIVIDUAL CONTAINING MEANS DEPRESSED BELOW SUBSTANTIALLY PLANAR PERIPHERAL AND CENTRAL AREAS THEREOF, AND A PLURALITY OF PRESSURE-RUPTURABLE COVER SEGMENTS AFFIXED TO SAID PERIPHERAL AND CENTRAL AREAS OF SAID TRAY PORTION TO COVER SAID DEPRESSIONS, SAID COVER SEGMENTS HAVING THEREON INDICIA OF THE SEVEN DAYS OF THE WEEK IN MULTIPLES OF SAID SEVEN DAYS, SAID INDICIA BEING SEQUENTIALLY CORRELATED WITH SAID INDIVIDUAL CONTAINING MEANS AND IN CYCLICAL HEAD-TOTAIL RELTIONSHIP WITHIN SAID PARALLEL ROWS OF DEPRESSIONS AND ACROSS SAID ROWS AT THE END THEREOF. 